This case study traces the long history of Japan's motorcycles business from the 1950s to today, in the context of its endeavors to gain a foothold in the US market. Honda was initially unsuccessful when it competed head-on with the existing players with its large size motorbikes. It then changed tracks to introduce a small 49 cc motorbikethe Super Cub in 1958, which went on to become a tremendous success. The Super Cub continues to be in production even today and has sold more than 60 million units to-date globally.

During the 1950s, the Japanese company, Honda entered the US market by launching its large bikes. It wanted to compete with the British and American bike companies which were already well-established in the US market. At that time, the American market was primarily served by `Harley Davidson' of US, `Triumph' and `Norton' of UK and `Moto Guzzi' of Italy, which marketed large bikes. The motorcycles were used mainly by policemen and army men. The others who rode bikes were generally not seen to be of `good character'. This was a significant challenge that the Japanese motorbike company faced as a new entrant in the US market.

The image of bikers in the US was not good, and they were considered to be hooligans and troublemakers. The bikers had a negative image altogether, as they typically wore black leather jackets, and went around with names like `Hell's Angels' or `Satan's Slaves' imprinted on their vehicles. Further, a movie named The Wild One (1953) about motorcycle gang violence in America, further reinforced the negative image associated with motorbikes and motorbike riders (Refer Movie Poster Shown in Exhibit 1). Therefore, motorcycles, especially larger bikes of 300cc engine capacity and above, were not in popular demand; and Honda was unable to make its presence felt in the US market. As mentioned in Honda's annual report of 1963, common people in the US never gave a thought to motorcyclists and motorcycles.

But very soon, Honda realized what the US market actually required. People preferred using small bikes for short distance personal transportation, and Honda found an opportunity in addressing this need. At that time, Japan was already into making small and light weight two-wheelers and these were being produced on a very large scale. And then, Honda introduced a small 49cc bike named the Super Cub in 1958 (Exhibit 2) and this marked the beginning of rapid growth of the Japanese company in the US market.

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